When It Started
by NewBlood158
Summary: 'But I can't be a witch.' She thought to herself. 'I'm not special. I'm not anything.'
1. Prologue

**A/N: So I wrote this a while ago when my brain suddenly thought of it and wouldn't shut up. It's another OC one, but it's a mixture of POV's and such. I finally decided to upload it and I already have a few chapters lined up. Unlike my other stories however I will actually spend time making the chapters are full as possible so I don't end up with so many.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC's. Everything else is JKR's.**

**Prologue**

**July 1989**

"So what do you do for fun Elenore?" The man, she remembered Miss Jensen had introduced as David, asked with a smile. Elenore stared at him as she thought though her mind seemed to draw a blank. "For fun?" She asked, buying herself a couple of more seconds to think. "Well, I like to go for walks. I guess."

"Hiking?" The woman asked this time. She had lovely blonde hair and bright blue eyes that twinkled when she smiled; Elenore thought it might be nice to have her for a mum. "I suppose so. I like being outside, and woods and stuff like that. I like reading too."

They both smiled at her but Elenore could see right then that they weren't going to pick her. On the way in she knew they wouldn't and she was angry at her social worker Maria for shoving her in there with them in the first place. She was just glad the holiday was next week, a whole week without Maria forcing her into any of these stupid meetings. It was going to be great.

* * *

><p>"Come on Shelly!" She yelled back, running up the slope as fast as possible. Shelly, who had only been at the home six months now, was clinging onto a rock and taking in deep breaths as the stitch ached in her side. Elenore had been slightly jealous of Shelly when she had arrived; she had long blonde hair that cascaded down her back and bright blue eyes anyone would love to look at for hours. Elenore had always hated her mousy brown hair and the best compliment about her eyes she ever received was when Brian Richards had said they were the same colour as chocolate pudding. She wasn't sure if that had actually been a compliment but she decided it was, Brian was a round chubby little boy who loved Chocolate pudding.<p>

"But it's so high! What if I fall! What if you fall?" Upon seeing how far ahead Eleanor was ahead, she huffed and started to follow again. "You do realise people aren't going to adopt us if we're in a wheel chair!"

"And you do realise that in fifteen days I will be eleven and officially un-adoptable. People don't want older kids Shell, they want cute little ones that they can mould into perfect little children, not ones that are going to talk back. Now will you move your bum?"

It was another good ten minutes of climbing, and a lot of huffing from Shelly, before she saw it. As Eleanor's head peaked over she caught the view of all the trees and surrounding area. From up there everything looked amazing to her; even the sky looked a little bluer. "Oh Shell you have to see this! Look how pretty it is!"

"I'm…coming…" Her friend grunted managing to pull herself up over that final hurdle. When she peeked her head over the top of rock Shelly gasped. "Wow Ellie, it's beautiful! Look at it!"

"I told you, I told you it would be worth it didn't I!" Eleanor said dreamily as she gazed at the horizon. "I think we should live up here."

"Oh yes. That's a brilliant idea, living on some pointy rocks. Wouldn't that be comfortable?"

"Hey, do you see that?" Eleanor suddenly said pointing into the distance when her eye suddenly caught something. "Do you see that?"

"What?" Shelly replied looking around apprehensively.

"Right there." Elenore now had her hand stretched out pointing at the pool of clear water in the distance. "It looks like a lake and…a house!" she said excitedly.

"Oh…oh no!" Shelly said shaking her head with her determination. "I am not going any further than this. We have to be back by seven, that's when it's dinner."

"You're always thinking about your stomach." Eleanor sighed rolling her eyes.

"You're one to talk! Who stole a whole box of donuts and ate the entire thing!"

"I gave you one! Besides, the food at the hotel is horrible and gross. Pleeease. If we go there I'll steal another box tonight and I'll even get some éclairs for you! I know they're your favourite!"

Folding her arms across her chest Shelly turned away and let out a small huff. She hated how Elenore always managed to talk her into stuff, but this time she was standing her ground. "No, I refuse to leave this rock unless it's to go back to the hotel, and the fact you would just assume I would agree with it….Elenore?..." she turned to see her friend already making her way down, obviously not listening to anything Shelly had to say.

"You can at least wait for me!" Shelly shouted after Elenore, as she started the long descent back down. "And if we're late back, I'm telling Miss Jensen it was all YOUR idea!"

It took them much less time to get to the bottom of that hill than it did the top. Upon reaching the bottom Eleanor informed Shelly that there was a quick route round, so getting home would only take a quarter of the time.

"Devon is soooo boring!" Eleanor groaned. She was now trekking a fair bit behind Shelly who was walking at a steady pace. "There's nothing to do here except walk and walk and walk."

"You like walking! All this walking was your idea!" Shelly said glancing back at Elenore who was now stopping occasionally in the tall grass to pick at flowers. "Besides, it's not like the careers can afford something expensive. It's Devon or nothing."

"I suppose."

"Anyway, at least we get away from Christina for a few hou!" All Elenore saw was Shelly disappearing into the grass; it was hard to hold back the laugh. "Shell?"

"I'm ok! I tripped over something!"

Eleanor shot forward finding the girl sat on the floor holding, "Is that a broom?"

"Looks like it…why would it be out here?" Shelly turned the broom over in the hands studying it a little more. "Wait!" Elenore said kneeling down on the floor next to her. "Comet 220?"

"What?"

"Right there." Elenore pointed at the silver writing on the tip of the handle. "Comet 220." She took the broom out of Shelly's hand when she felt a sudden twinge in her fingers; she would have sworn on anything in that moment that the broom was vibrating in her hands.

"Do you want to get to this lake or not?"

Her head snapped up and her grip on the broom loosened. "Yeah…come on then."

The rest of the walk the both remained in silence. Shelly noticed Elenore was holding the broom close to her, like she never wanted to let it go. When they both finally reached the end of the lake they just stood there starring out at the clear water. "Doesn't really seem worth it does it? Walking all that way?" Elenore noted. Shelly glanced at Elenore, but her gaze wasn't on the water, it was fixed on the house just across from it. "Who do you reckon lives there?"

Shelly was starting to get scared now, it was starting to get late and she knew they wouldn't make it back in the half an hour they had left before dinner time. "I think we should go now, you've seen the lake. Come on."

"What if this broom belongs to the person in that house, they might want it back!"

"But…it looks like a dump; I don't even know how it's standing!" It was true, there were various pieces of woods keeping up different layers of the house, but to Elenore it looked like anything but a dump. "Are you coming?" Elenore asked already starting her walk around the lake.

"Ellie! No we have to go back!"

"I'm going anyway! And if you don't come you'll just have to walk back by yourself and you don't know the way!"

"FINE! I'LL STAY RIGHT HERE THEN!" Shelly fell to the floor fiercely crossing her arms over her chest as she watched Elenore become smaller and smaller as she made her way round.

Elenore didn't dare glance back, she knew as soon as she did she would start running towards Shelly screaming to get out of there. She felt so stupid, but something was pulling her to that house and she didn't know what. As the door came closer into view she felt her heart pound louder against her chest. Anyone could be in there….and not necessarily someone good.

She held her hand up the door when she suddenly heard shouting coming from inside causing her to take a few steps back. Her brain was starting to work a mile a minute. **Bad** idea, this was a very bad idea.

She dropped the broom and started to run back to where Shelly was when she heard calling coming from behind her. She couldn't make out what they where saying, she didn't care either. All she wanted to do was go back to the hotel and eat the biggest box of donuts she could find. As soon as she reached Shelly she pulled her up off the floor and they both ran until they their sides ached and couldn't neither of them could even manage to move their legs any more.

Just as they suspected Miss Jensen spent almost thirty minutes yelling at them for coming back half an hour after they were meant to. They were sent to bed without dinner, something Shelly wouldn't let Eleanor forget for the next two hours before it was safe to go and sneak the Éclairs she had promised her, but Eleanor didn't get her donuts. She felt too sick to eat. Instead she packed her things for the trip home tomorrow.

Listening to the soft snoring coming from the bunk above her she thought about the events of that day, how she felt when she held that broom, even that house seem to make her hairs stand on end.

Nothing ever exciting happened to her. Well, there was the one time she fell off the roof and broke her leg. However, sitting around with a cast isn't exactly exciting; she remembered it being positively boring to be honest. Eleanor couldn't stop thinking about what the person yelled, deep down she wished she heard it, wish she turned back. Then again that would have been a stupid idea. Sudden flashes came to mind, hoards of zombies hiding in his basement, body parts in the deep freezer he had out back…, she shut her eyes and sighed pulling the covers high over her head. She had to stop sneaking downstairs and watching those horror films with the older kids.

* * *

><p>The morning of her birthday she woke up early like she did every year, even though she knew she had nothing to be excited about. She was eleven, big whoop. In less than two months she would be off to Secondary school with Shelly and…urgh….Christina, the most horrible girl on the face of the planet who would try and steal her thunder today. Eleanor didn't care, she just wanted to eat cake then go back to bed. She wasn't even sure what she would wish for, it all seemed a bit pointless.<p>

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" Elenore sat up when she heard the shouts come from the other side of her door. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" With each word the un-ruly lot seem to get louder, Elenore jumped from her bed grinning wildly and made her way to the door. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY DEAR ELLIE!" She wretched the door open to see all the faces of the kids and carers huddled in front of her door. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

This was followed with claps and cheering as she took a deep bow. "Thank you! Thank you loyal subjects!"

"You know what this means don't you?" Paul, one of the eldest kids said, smirking as he talked.

"NO! DON'T!"

"Birthday beats!"

Paul and Alex, one of the homes longest residents, both appeared at her side and grabbed her making sure escape was impossible.

"Ready?" Paul asked.

"NO!" She cried.

"I reckon she is." Alex remarked.

"That's enough boys!" Miss Jensen sighed; pushing passed the rest of them. "Leave the poor girl alone she's only just woken up."

"Fine." Alex sighed hanging his head. "I CALL DIBS ON THE REMOTE!" He was out of the room in a flash storming down the stairs followed closely by the others. Paul rolled his eyes and smiled at Eleanor. "The big one one eh?"

"I guess." She shrugged.

"Listen…I know there's that whole…once you hit eleven thing people don't want to adopt you and stuff, but it's not true."

"What about you?"

"Well, I still have parents they're just…bad at it. All I'm saying is...Don't get your hopes up."

"I won't." She lied and gave him a rather false smile that she was sure he saw right through. He didn't give her the sad look she expected; instead he kissed the top of her head and left, closing the door behind him.

Breakfast was its usual affair, only today had the added bonus of opening birthday cards. Her Social worker Maria sent one as well, this year there was a surprisingly good haul, she recognized most of everyone's hand writing, until she reached the last envelope.

The writing upon it was in green, something she didn't see every day. When she flipped it over there was red wax keeping it shut with a small seal embedded into it. Whoever sent the letter was either extremely ancient or into some weird joke. Glancing around the table she excused herself and run upstairs locking herself in the bathroom. She couldn't get it open fast enough and as soon as she started reading she felt her cornflakes churn in her stomach.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

"…..what?" she muttered to herself, reading the first line again. Yeah, it definitely said that.

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
>(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,<br>Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

She was starting to feel sicker.

_Dear Miss Thompson.  
>We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.<br>Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._  
><em><br>Yours Sincerely._

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Eleanor pulled out the other letter and started to read through it. Cauldrons? Wands? She started to feel very hot and the breath escaped her lungs as she kept reading through. She didn't know if this was meant to be funny or just down right mean. She started to tear at it making sure it was completely ruined before shoving the content in the small bin under the sink and then storming out of there. She didn't think this was funny in the slightest.

The next day another letter came, saying exactly the same thing. So she did exactly the same thing. Tore it up and shoved it right down in the kitchen bin. This continued for nearly two weeks and every day she was getting more annoyed. On July 31st she sat on the edge of her bed with her arms folded scowling at the letter on her desk. So what was going to happen if she didn't reply? She didn't even know what the bloody hell that meant, how she could reply by owl!

She grabbed the letter off the desk and marched down the stairs to Miss Jensen's office harshly knocking on the door.

"Miss Jensen!"

The door opened and she was greeted with a soft smile. Miss Jensen had been working at home almost as long as Eleanor had lived there, you could see that working with kids was starting to get to her. The wrinkles around her eyes had deepened over the years, her hair was losing its blonde rapidly, and she didn't like the way her hips were spreading in the slightest. "It's been eight years Ellie, you can call me Vicky."

"But…it's not polite."

"You don't need to be polite all the time. The way you were knocking certainly wasn't."

"I'm sorry…it's just….I keep getting these letters…"

"Letters?"

Eleanor held up the envelope for Vicky to take. She studied it for a moment, Eleanor watching her closely the entire time, watching her eyes widen as she read. "…This is the first one?"

"No….not exactly."

"I think…perhaps…we need to talk." Miss Jensen guided her inside closing the door behind her. Eleanor took a seat looking around. She didn't like being in here, usually it was because you were being told off, or being told bad news, and she wasn't sure which it was this time. "How long have you been receiving this letters dear?"

"Since my birthday."

"Oh….I see. So why didn't you come before hand?"

"I thought it was just a weird joke, I didn't think it was serious or anything. Then they kept coming and…well…I want it to stop."

Miss Jensen wasn't exactly sure how to say what she had to as she took in that breath, but she knew she had to say something. "I'm afraid that, it isn't a joke."

Eleanor didn't reply, she looked as if she physically couldn't.

"This school is very real, and you are…very much….a witch."

Eleanor was staring at her, eyes wide as saucers. She had to be lying…she had to, although she couldn't be, she wasn't allowed to was she? Miss Jensen was an authority figure; Authority figured weren't allowed to lie! "That's…impossible."

"In the circumstances, seems more improbable doesn't it?"

"But…I don't…How do you…." Elenore could feel the warm tears stinging her eyes with every attempt to speak. She refused to believe what Miss Jensen was saying was true, in fact she was pinching her arm extremely hard just to make sure she wasn't having a bad dream after acquiring food poisoning.

"Do you remember a few months ago, a woman came, very oddly dressed? In green? Glasses?"

Elenore remembered, everyone did. They had all hoped the elderly woman hadn't come to adopt one of them, mainly because they were terrified she would attempt to dress them up like her.

"Well, she's the woman mentioned in this letter, Professor McGonagall. She came to tell me…about you. The school. To be perfectly honest I was just as shocked as you." She smiled weakly, but didn't receive one back from the Eleanor who was now cowered in the chair, looking extremely tiny. "She told me all about it. It's in Scotland an,"

"SCOTLAND!" Elenore yelled. "YOU'RE SENDING ME TO SCOTLAND! TO GET RID OF ME?"

"What? Oh dear, no, no of course not." She grabbed the young girls hand upon seeing how much she was trembling, although, it might have been herself. "You'll be there until the summer, I believe she said you finish in June, but you can come home at Christmas and Easter, there's a special train that goes up there. You'll always have a home here, you know that."

_'But I can't be a witch.'_ She thought to herself. '_I'm not special. I'm not anything.'_ Eleanor slowly pulled her hand away and hid it in her lap. "What if….I don't want to?"

"Pardon?"

"What if I don't want to go, can I not? Or….do I have to?"

"Well, I suppose if you don't want to, you don't have to. But maybe you should think about it carefully."

"About what? I don't know anything about…..magic…or…..wizardry…this is the freakiest conversation I've ever had. What do they do? Just….pick random people to go?"

"No. She told me, it's in your blood. Lots of people from…uh, wizarding families go but people who have none magical parents do as well."

"And people with no parents?"

The silence in that moment was deafening. "I honestly don't think it matters dear."

"Well, I…..I don't want to. I don't want to go. I won't fit in, I won't know anything!"

"But Eleanor."

"No! I don't want to. You can write back to that professor and tell her that I'm sorry, that I won't be…accepting my….acceptance…" With that Eleanor stormed out of the room, not even allowing another single second to pass where Miss Jensen could persuade her otherwise.

For the next few weeks she attempted to push it out of her mind, she spent most of her time with Shelly, keeping busy, trying to keep her mind of it.

That day she had only gone out into the garden to go on the swing for a bit, but she found herself wondering if Miss Jensen had already written back, and if it was far too late to change her mind.

"Hey fatty fat."

Upon seeing Christina, Eleanor sighed and kicked a stone that was at her feet. "I'm not fat. Besides, your bum is bigger than mine." She retorted, although she wished she had kept her mouth shut, she didn't feel like getting into an argument.

"It's not!" Christina cried, although Elenore could have sworn she quickly ran her hands over the area to check.

"Are you going to be horrible throughout all of high school? Because if you are I'm going to tell you right now, I'm not going to pay a single second of notice."

"Of course you will. You always do. Poor little Orphan Elenore always feeling sorry for herself."

"Don't you dare! You're exactly the same!"

"Well at least my parents have an excuse! Dying isn't exactly the same as just dumping you because they didn't want you!"

"Shut up." Eleanor hissed under her breath.

"No one wants you! No one ever will!"

"I SAID BE QUIET!"

Christina went to open her mouth again, except this time, nothing came out. She stood there gawping like a fish, trying desperately to speak but not a single sound came out, not even a whimper. Eleanor sat on that swing horrified, staring at Christina wide eyed. "Chri….Christina?"

The girl was panicking now, tears were streaming down her face as she tried and tried to make even the slightest noise, she then turned and ran inside leaving Eleanor standing in the middle of the garden, absolutely mortified. It didn't take long for her brain to suddenly switch back on and she ran after. As soon as she walked through the glazed doors she heard people chattering loudly and she saw a group huddled around Christina, some of the older kids where whispering between themselves whilst the careers worriedly attempt to figure out what had happened to the young girl.

Why was it Elenore seemed to be the only one that could hear the doorbell going?

She squeezed past them, all too busy to even notice her try to make her way through and walk over to the door. She wasn't usually allowed to answer it but she figured no one else was going to. When she looked through the peep hole she wasn't sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Outside stood the woman, THAT woman. That professor McGonagall. Only this time she was with a man who was wearing something oddly similar to what the professor was. She continued to stand on her tiptoes starring at the two people until, "Would you please open the door, we don't have all day."

Eleanor almost fell backwards in fright but managed to steady herself long enough to pull open the door. The two grown-ups walked past her, the man tilting his tall hat as he did and hurried themselves inside.

"Miss Jensen, Miss Jensen!" The woman called. Miss Jensen, who had been too preoccupied with Christina's current problem, only looked up when her name was called for a brief second. Upon seeing who it was she shot straight up. "Oh…oh Professor McGonagall."

If Eleanor's heart could have climbed out of her chest and started tap dancing right then, it would of. She stared at the aging woman, feeling sicker and sicker with each passing second. "Miss Jensen perhaps you and I, and Christina should go into your office with Mr Parsons here. We need a word."

"Of…of course. Everyone off now, that's enough."

Mumbling, the rest of the kids split up drifting into various rooms along with the rest of the staff, each of them getting a good look at the two visitors. Eleanor attempted to go off with one of the smaller kids but as soon as she walked past the professor she felt a hand on her shoulder, and it made her freeze to the spot. "You should go up to your room; I would like a word with you momentarily."

Letting out a rather long sigh Eleanor nodded and started her descent up the stairs, halfway she turned to see Miss Jensen's office door closing, and that professor giving her another quick glance.

As she lay on her bed she wondered what on earth that woman would want to talk to her about, maybe there was a law saying she had to go to that school, was she going to prison? What if they had a special witch prison for people like them and she would have to spend the rest of her life locked in some tower? What if she had been the one that had silenced Christina?

'_No'._ She thought to herself. _'That's impossible, you'll need to cast a proper spell or something to do that, or use a wand, yes, it couldn't have been me, it just couldn't. '_

When she heard the knock on her door she had a brief idea of climbing out of her window and making a run for it, she wasn't sure where to but she knew she could probably hide out in the town centre for a few hours. Unfortunately, she decided she would have to face her fate as she sat up and said those doomed words. "Come in."

Professor McGonagall entered closing the door behind her. She peered round the room before her eyes fixed on Eleanor. The professor wore an extremely stern expression on her face, which was somewhat unnerving to the young girl. "You'll probably be glad to hear that Christina girl had her voice back, and she has no memory of ever loosing it."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh."

"So, how did she loose it?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, don't you?"

"It wasn't me!" The Professor didn't give any type of reassuring reply; instead she changed the subject completely. "Do you have idea where the man I was with was from?"

"I dunno, Hogwarts?" she shrugged.

"He was from the department of Magical accidents and catastrophes." She said to Elenore, who only had a confused look on her face. "It is their job to correct mistakes in magic, usually spells or potions gone amiss, usually by inexperienced witches or wizards like,"

"Me?" Elenore said quietly.

"Yes but, it isn't polite to interrupt."

"Sorry." She replied even quieter.

"I received a letter from Miss Jensen, saying that you did not wish to attend Hogwarts. Is this correct?" She asked with a rather stern look and Elenore suddenly felt like she was in the headmaster's office. "I….I guess."

"When I informed professor Dumbledore he was most disappointed." _'Dumbledore?'_ Eleanor thought to herself_. 'The headmaster?'_ "You're perhaps one of the only students who has not wanted to attend."

"I won't fit in; I don't know any…magic."

"Many students don't. Just because you don't have magical parents doesn't mean you are at a disadvantage."

"I have no money, I can't buy that stuff."

"We have a special fund for students in your circumstances. You will be giving enough money to buy everything you need."

"Where do you even buy,"

"Miss Jensen knows, I've explained everything to her."

"I thought it was rude to interrupt?" Eleanor could have sworn she saw a slight twinge of a smile on the corner of the professor's mouth, even if it was fleeting.

"So does this mean you will be attending?" The Professor finally asked after what seemed like an eternity.

Elenore sat back against her headboard and chewed her bottom lip. "I….I didn't mean to do that to her, I just wanted her to shu….be quiet. I didn't ever think that would happen."

"I happened to have one or two incidents in my day. Like I said, it's not uncommon."

Elenore smiled gently at the professor. "I guess. Maybe I should go then. I don't want to…accidently blow someone up, do I?"

"That would be most unfortunate. But if you feel you need training as to not, blow anyone up…I've left your train ticket and all the details with Miss Jensen, she will explain everything else."

"So you knew I would go?" Elenore observed. "Even though I said I didn't want to."

"Everyone does." The professor said as she turned to leave, her hand was already on the handle when Eleanor suddenly though of something else. "Professor, before you leave may I ask you something?"

The professor was slightly stunned by the girl's politeness, and turned to address her once more. "Certainly."

"You have, brooms, right? In…wizard land."

"It's not one of those muggle amusement parks," She sighed. "But, yes. We do use broomsticks."

Elenore suddenly had another question, she wanted to ask what on earth a muggle was; but decided to ask her only the one. "Is there a broom called, comet 220?" she asked.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." She said shaking her head. "I was just wondering." Without another word, but with an arched eyebrow, the professor disappeared out of the door leaving Eleanor smiling to herself.

She knew that house didn't have a horde of zombies hidden in the basement.


	2. First Year

**First Year**

"Will you get a move on; you're going to miss the train!"

The tallest of the red heads, a muscular boy with long red hair rolled his eyes as he followed the plump short woman in front of him. "Mum you say this every year and every year we always get there in time."

"Yes well, this year you might not be so lucky!"

The clang of red heads stomped through Kings Cross as fast as they could. A mother holding firmly onto a younger boy and a very small girl's hand, a troop of four boys eldest to youngest, all pushing their trollies steadily behind her. As they reached platform nine she sent the two eldest through first. Two of the youngest boys stood back watching their other siblings run through the platform one after another. "Let me push the trolley!"

"Fred, it's a sodding trolley!"

"Well, let me push it then!""

"STOP PUSHING!"

"YOU'RE PUSHING!"

The slightly taller twin grabbed the other around his neck and pulled his head down. "STOP. PUSHING!"

"WILL YOU BOTH STOP, WE'RE IN PUBLIC!" At their mother's angry words the two boys broke apart and crossed their arms in defeat.

"Oh this is ridiculous; there obviously isn't a platform nine and three quarters. I knew this was stupid." At the sound of the girl's voice they both abandoned the trolley and walked over to the area where it was coming from. The twins poked their head around the stone column so they could listen more intently to the girl with the long dark curly hair who was standing there with her mother, whom was now speaking. "Now hush, I'm sure it must be around here somewhere...we'll just…ask someone else."

"So they can look at us again like we're insane? Brilliant." The girl groaned and sat down on the bench, head in her hands.

"Are you off to Hogwarts?" The two females almost jumped in shock when Fred spoke to them.

"Excuse me?" The young one said, her eyes suddenly widening at the two.

"Hog-warts." George said in a rather slow tone as he appeared from behind his brother. "You know the school?"

"Uh, yes…I am."

"Muggles?" George now asked as he stepped next to Fred.

"Pardon me young man." The older woman replied, sounding slightly insulted.

"Are you muggles?" George extended. "Non magic people."

"Oh! Oh well, I am." The older one said. "But, Elenore received…a letter..."

"Muggle borns." The twins said in unison, rolling their eyes. "Well you can come through the platform with us if you like, we're about to go through." Fred pointed round the corner. "It's this way."

The mother and daughter looked at each other before grabbing their trolley and following the twins quickly.

"BOYS! WHERE…oh….what did I say about running off!" The plump woman cried causing the twins to wince.

"Sorry mum. It's just, our new friend here uh…." Fred looked at girl with the long brown hair hoping she would get the hint to introduce herself. He had completely forgotten what the girl's mother had said her daughter's name was a few moments ago.

"Oh," She said after a moment. "Elenore."

"Ellie." Fred instantly shortened it and didn't notice Elenore wrinkle her nose. "She's a….muggle." He whispered the last word. "And her and her mum don't know how to get on the platform."

"Oh, well of course we'll show you. Fred you go with, uh, Elenore and I'll take her mum."

"Ready?" Fred asked taking a hold of the bar of her trolley. Elenore nodded and moved next to him her hands tightly holding on. "After three, run towards that wall."

"Excuse me."

"One…"

"Are you seriously saying,"

"Two…"

"That I have to RUN, into a WALL!"

"THREE!"

As they ran he could see the terror on her face, he was pretty certain she was about to scream, but when they reached the other side of the barrier he stopped them from almost running off the platform and let go. She however kept a firm hold, her knuckles now pure white. "See, that wasn't too bad." Fred grinned and elbowed her in the arm.

"No, you're right. That was positively lovely!" She said in a loud cry.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm sorry; this is just…a little…"

"Overwhelming?"

"A month ago I didn't know I was a….a witch and now I'm…running through walls! And buying stuff that should logically not even exist." She rambled.

"You know, you can open your eyes now."

She did, rather slowly and stared at Fred. "Sorry." She said quietly lowering her gaze.

"Well I'm Fred." He said holding out his hand. "The other one, that's George."

"Are those your brothers?" She asked looking over at the group of red heads.

"Yup. All four of them! Ron the youngest boy, he doesn't go to school yet. And Ginny is a year under Ron."

"Oh..."

"The Eldest, that's Charlie, he's in his sixth year and Percy, the one with glasses is in his third. I have another older brother but he graduated last year. His name's Bill. What about you? You don't have any brothers or sisters?"

"Um, no. Not really."

"Not really?" Fred asked a little confused. He was going to ask her what she meant by that but his mother was suddenly pulling him away from Elenore so he could place his things on the train, and it was quickly forgotten. As expected their mother was crying and ferociously waving goodbye as the train pulled out of the station. Having left it to the last minute they searched round the train for compartments but the only one they could find had Elenore sat in, her gaze concentrating on the trees and countryside speeding past.

"Shall we go sit with her?" George asked as they peaked through the window. "She didn't seem too bad."

"I guess not. Besides, she's spotted us anyway."

George looked back through and sure enough she was sat there staring at them, eyebrow arched. Clearing his throat George slid the door opened and smiled. "You don't mind if we sit with you do you? Everywhere else is full."

"Yeah sure. Go for it."

The two hurried in and sat down opposite her, smiling as they did so.

"You have donuts?" George said excitedly as he spotted the bag. "Did your mum give them to you?"

"She's not my mum." Elenore said flatly, but then offered the bag to them. "She thought I could share them. Would you like one?"

Both the twins immediately shoved their hands into the bag and produced a donut each while still looking at her.

"So, she's your…aunt?" George asked.

"No. She's runs the care home I live at."

"So...you're an orphan." Fred asked this time a little too bluntly.

"Yeah…I guess so…"

"Why donuts? Our mum gave us corn beef sandwiches. Urgh." George produced it from his pocket and frowned at the pathetic lump of bread and meat. When she saw Elenore staring at the small lump he smiled slightly, as did she. He could tell she was thankful for the change of topic.

"It's the only sweet thing I really like, and cake. But only on birthdays."

"burthtay cack iz gud." Fred muffled as he chewed on the whole treat stuffed into his mouth. "So what house do you reckon you'll be in?" He said normally once the contents were gone. "Me and George will probably end up in Gryffindor."

"House? What do you mean house?"

"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." George informed her. "You get put into one and you have to spend the rest of your school life in that house. All our family have been in Gryffindor so we'll probably end up in it too."

"Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad," Fred said. "But they're meant to be proper smart and…well,"

"Not really our scene."

"Then there's Hufflepuff." Fred continued. "Not great but at least it's not Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" Elenore asked with a tremble in her voice.

"Yeah, Slytherin." Fred said with a cocked eyebrow and he jumped across the carriage so he could take a seat next to her. "Seriously evil house. All people who end up there usually end up bad."

"Deatheaters." George said quietly.

"They worked for you know who." Fred finished.

"Who?" she asked, eyes flickering between the two of them.

"You've never heard of you know who? This extremely evil wizard who was the reason for the first Wizarding war! He's not around anymore, died a long time ago."

"But people say that he still has followers, even now!"

"So yeah, if you end up in Slytherin and don't take this the wrong way," Fred said with a heavy voice and placed a hand on her shoulder. "But, we won't be able to be your friend. In case you try to kill us or something. Also Gryffindor and Slytherin. Sworn Enemies."

"Do you think I'll be put in Slytherin?" Elenore asked sounding terrified. George noticed this and frowned. He could see Fred was planning on frightening her even more, but it suddenly wasn't funny. "Nah. Slytherin tend to be 'pure bloods'," he noticed the look she gave him "Uh, they have two magical parents and you're muggle born. Right?" She shrugged and he remembered the fact that she didn't have parents. "Well you won't be Slytherin then. But just remember, whatever house you do end up in, when it comes to Quidditch always cheer for Gryffindor. Our brother Charlie's the teams Seeker and he's Captain. So we shouldn't have any problem getting on to the team next year."

"What's Quidditch?"

Fred and George looked at each other wide eye and grins broke out on both their faces. "You've never…heard of Quidditch?" Fred asked, still smiling. Elenore looked between the two of them and shook her head.

"We have so much to teach you."

* * *

><p>"Elenore!"<p>

"ELENORE! ELENORE LOOK!"

When she heard the twins screaming voices she sighed and looked up from her potions book. She had been at Hogwarts two months now and after some initial attempts on their part to terrify her every chance they got she soon became close friends with them, even if they did sometimes drive her over the edge.

"Elenore look! Look what we found."

"We stole it from Filches office!" George said excitedly. The smile disappeared when he saw Fred's face. "Not steal!" Fred added quickly. "More like, borrowed without any intention of returning it."

"So you stole it then?" Elenore asked.

"Well…Yes."

"What is it?" she asked.

George snatched it from his brother's hands and handed it to her. "We're not sure. Seems cool huh?"

"It's a piece of paper." She noted as she examined it. "A very old…crusty…piece of paper. Nothing special or 'cool' about it."

"Well if it's not special why would Filch have it hidden away like he did?" Fred said with a smirk.

"Maybe he put it in there and forgot about it. Anyway it's not like you two need any more items to help you get up to no good anyway."

Fred suddenly grabbed her arm as he stared at the parchment. "Look!" There, very clearly across the paper read 'Do**_ you solemnly swear?_**

"What!" George said excitedly. "Solemnly swear what?"

'**_That you're up to no good?"_**

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Fred and George said together, freaking out Elenore a tad. They sat either side of her their eyes fixed on the paper. Suddenly ink started to bleed across the paper causing Fred and George to press even closer to her to get a better look at the writing, even though Elenore was speaking aloud. "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

"Aids to Magical Mischief makers?" Fred said excitedly "Sounds like my kind of wizard."

"It is a map." She said quietly as she unfolded the paper. "Look, the great hall. Dumbledore's office…and look! It tells you where everyone is! McGonagall is in her office right now!"

George, who was studying the map closely, looked up slowly at the pair of them and grinned evilly. "My friends, I believe we have possibly just found, the greatest invention, EVER, to exist."

"You can't keep it." Elenore said automatically. The two of them looked at her like she was insane. "It's not yours! You…stole it…." She said in a hushed tone. "From filches office. And if he took it off someone it must have been for a good reason."

"Yeah. The reason being he's a sour old git who likes to spoil everyone's fun." Fred snorted.

"Oh come on Elenore, it was in the back of some crusty old draw! He probably hasn't touched the thing in decades."

"Besides, think of all the potential! The tricks we could pull! And the best part is we can make a quick get away, never get caught!"

"You two are such bad influences for Ron and Ginevra."

"Ginny." Fred quickly corrected. "Besides they won't be here for another two and three years, the only person we have to influence is you." He grinned and tapped her nose.

"And Lee." She added batting his hand away.

"And Lee." George said and pinched her cheek. "Come to the dark side!"

"Yes! Come to the dark side!"

"Join us! Join us! Join us!" They sang over and over, dancing around her.

"No!" she laughed. "I shan't."

"Well, that's ok. We'll need someone to be our alibi when things go a bit wrong. That can be you."

"As long as I don't get expelled do what you want. Pulling pranks or….or…blowing up toilets! That wouldn't surprise me actually."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Fred said with a grin then started laughing when he saw the horrified look on Elenore's face. "I'm kidding!"

"Now if you two don't mind I have to go finish my Potions homework."

"Oh no! Potions I didn't even start it!" Fred cried.

"I did." George smirked. "Elenore helped me yesterday. Only have three questions left."

"What? Help me!"

"No." Elenore said sternly. "I offered yesterday and you told me that only losers spend their weekends doing homework. It's due tomorrow by the way."

"Fine! I'll go ask Angelina then!" Fred stood and stormed down the corridor leaving the two sat on the step.

"How do you suppose you clear it again?" She asked changing the subject back to the map. "Look, you can see Fred." She laughed as she pointed to the little blob marked Fred Weasley which was hurrying along to the Gryffindor common room. "Me and Fred will figure it out. Don't worry." George folded it up and shoved it into his robes. "You know, I'm glad you ended up in Gryffindor, even if you're as rubbish at potions as I am. Hey. Do you want to go see the giant squid?"

"Giant squid?" She scoffed. "There's a giant squid?"

"Yeah! In the black lake. Charlie told me about it. Do you want to go see if we can find it?"

Elenore smile and pretended to think for a second. "Yes! I want to see a giant squid!" She chuckled and both of them ran down the corridor to go get her robes.

* * *

><p>"Come on we're going to be late for the match!" Fred called back to Angelina and Elenore who only glared at him instead of increasing their pace. "Stupid boy." Elenore sighed. "It's only Quidditch."<p>

"But it is the last match of the school year and you never know, we might win against Slytherin." Angelina told her.

"Oh it's not that. Fred and George won't shut up about next year! 'Oh I can't wait to try out! I'm going to practice all summer!' blah blah blah. It's getting on my nerves."

"Well, I was thinking…of trying out too…"

"Oh Angelina!"

"And so was Alicia!"

"You're all leaving me? Great. I'm going to have to sit in the common room like a complete Larry all year!"

"Well why don't you try out too? Chaser or something? You're pretty good on a broom considering you hadn't been on one before September. Plus you don't mind the heights."

"No thanks. I have the hand eye co-ordination of a turnip. I'll be brain dead by the end of the first practice."

When they eventually arrived the two girls found Alicia already up there cheering. The match hadn't even started yet but most of the Gryffindor boys were already yelling their lungs out to the Slytherins who were sat across the pitch.

"Why is Lee over with the teachers?" Katie asked causing Elenore to look over, she had to squint to make him out properly, but that was definitely Lee with Professor McGonagall.

George suddenly popped up behind them, resting his chin on Elenore's shoulder. "He's trying out commentating for the first half of the match seeing as Alex Petry is leaving this year. Professor McGonagall said if it goes well he can keep doing it."

"Why commentating?" Elenore asked.

"Cause, scared of heights isn't he?" George said with a grin then went back to join Fred.

* * *

><p>George and Elenore were sat in the compartment alone as the trained sped towards London. Fred and Lee were off somewhere with Angelina, and Elenore was attempting to play Cat's cradle with George. "Now slot your fingers in there."<p>

"Where?"

"Those two bits of string then pull it round."

George did as he was told, but that didn't stop the string from knotting round his fingers. "This is a stupid game. Muggles are weird." He moaned. Elenore smiled as she untwisted the string from his fingers.

Once she was done he took the string of her and started to fiddle with it. "So, what will you do over the summer?" he asked as he watched her.

Elenore shrugged and looked out the window. "Not sure. There isn't usually much to do. Last year we went to Devon and I went hiking with my friends."

"I live in Devon." He said as he attempted to do the same thing with the string she did. Candles she had called it or something like that.

"Really? Where?"

"Ottery St. Catchpole. We kind of live outside, near Stoatshead hill."

"Near a lake?" She asked. "Big tall house that looks like it's being held up?"

He slowly raised his head to her, eyebrows knotted. "Uh….yeah. How did you…"

"Because I've been there! I took…a broom there!"

"A comet 220?" he said quietly.

She fiercely nodded and they leaned in closer to each other. "Yes! I found it and…well I didn't know if it belonged to the house but it was the only one around."

"That was you? I heard someone outside and I opened the door but they were running away and the broom was there! Bloody hell! I spent ages looking for that broom and you bloody found it!"

Elenore laughed as she fell back against the seat. "I can't believe that was you. How strange."

George nodded, still in shock that it had been her of all people. "Can we write to you over the summer? If you don't mind?"

"I'd like that." She smiled. "I mean, you are my friends, right?"

"Yeah. Best friends."


End file.
